I am interested in the role of individuals within groups and how their behaviour affects the organisation and collective behaviour of the group. I use experimental work in the lab and field to address this topic. Currently I am researching how nutrition affects division of labour in ants colonies (Odontomachus hastatus).

For my PhD I studied juvenile desert locusts, Schistocerca gregaria, examining how aggressive cannibalistic interactions between individuals within a group influence their collective motion, and how the nutritional state of locusts affects their individual and collective behaviour. I also examined the role of cannibalistic behaviour in the alignment of individuals within mobile groups by carrying out fieldwork on the Mormon cricket, Anabrus simplex. I also investigated tadpole schooling and vortex formation as a social foraging mechanism in spadefoot toad tadpoles.